Write of centre

TNN|

Nov 14, 2006, 12.42 AM IST

0Comments

When a person used to leading an active, almost manic, life is forced by circumstances to suddenly quieten down, what does he do? Well, if he is senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, he turns to writing.

Once a prominent spokesperson of his party, things have changed ever since Rajnath Singh took over as party president and decided to do bulk of the talking himself. Needless to say that party’s showcase Muslim face (and mouth) does not have much to do in the new dispensation.

That, however, does not seem to have deterred Naqvi, who has been keeping himself fruitfully occupied writing screenplays for Bollywood. After helping Madhur Bhandarkar with Corporate and his new venture Signal, Naqvi is now busy jotting down a story on a woman sarpanch called Vaishali.

Relief in disguise

When Indian autoville big giant Maruti sought SEZ status for its upcoming production facilities at Manesar, several government departments, especially the finance ministry, came up with long-winded arguments against granting such sops.

Japanese multinational Suzuki — which now controls Maruti — came up, on the other hand, with its own reasons why the company should get those sops, besides a host of other (listed) infrastructure facilities.

The PMO, given that there appeared to be no meeting point in sight, called for a meeting on Tuesday to thrash out a solution. More than six top bureaucrats were to attend the meet to be chaired by PM’s principal secretary. While preparations were on, Suzuki’s talks with Nissan for cooperation in the project petered out.

The Manesar SEZ, as a result, is no longer on the priority agenda for Suzuki. This has taken the fizz out of the high-profile meeting, but then top bureaucrats are relieved at the prospect of not having to dole out more tax sops at this juncture.

Bachelor boys

Lucknowites’ fascination with bachelors continues. After having elected Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a confirmed bachelor, as their MP several times, the denizens of the City of Nawabs have now elected Dinesh Sharma of the BJP as their first citizen.

Sharma, who also happens to be a professor in Lucknow University, was elected mayor in the recently-held local bodies elections. Incidentally, he was known as a committed camp follower of former BJP leader Uma Bharati, also a single woman and a sanyasin to boot.

With both the local MP and the mayor being bachelors, Lucknow would have definitely created a record of sorts for those who have chosen not to bite the Dilli ka laddoo.

An honest sight

The recent signing of public-private agreements between the government of Uttar Pradesh and three private power players in Lucknow saw rival bidders for the 1,000-MW Anpara-C project, Reliance Energy chairman Anil Ambani and Lanco Kondapalli chairman Madhusudan Rao seated next to each other at the signing ceremony.

Both the groups had bid aggressively for the project, which was finally awarded to Lanco as it was the lowest bidder. However, Ambani gallantly proclaimed in his speech on the occasion that Lanco had quoted the lowest tariff, and was awarded the project on merit.

He said that though REL was keen on the project it went to Lanco, thanks to a very transparent bidding procedure adopted by the state government. Moral of the story: it pays not just to be honest, but to be seen to be honest.